Lucifers Hero

Not sure of exact numbers but Geelong are playing a lot of Home games at Etihad as their ground is not available, and their members probably won't go up the highway. North play a few Home games in Tassie so their Vic members don't travel there. That deal is probably pitched to Tassie members. In both cases they are not giving much away. We will probably offer that sort of deal in a few months when we have played a few Home games so there is less value in a full membership.

Clearly I missed that little word 'not' but the context would have implied it .... Hird is still not contrite.

While not directly related to pay equality there is some meddling by the AFL that doesn't bode well. All AFLW player contracts were for one only year and will shortly expire so all players can move clubs, including marquis players. Also, it seems the AFL will mandate that 8 players need to be moved from each list - either traded or delisted. This just doesn't make sense to me as there are only 28 players on a list and each week a club fields 22 players (16+6 i/c) so effectively dropping at least 2 regular players. If they want to give more players a chance to play AFLW then make the lists bigger. 28 is ridiculously small - look at the decimation at Freo AFLW from injuries. And surely it isn't fair to delist players who after only one season have been injured or not settled enough to show their talents. The benefit of enforced high player turnover and one year contracts will only be for the powerful and wealthy clubs by them poaching talent with lucrative jobs at their club/sponsors or other promotional roles (which at this stage appear to be outside the AFL standard pay). So a club can use top draft picks, develop talent only to have them poached! There will be trades but we all know that a good player for a good draft pick are rarely equal Some promotional jobs are clearly legit (Pearce, Harris, Hope etc) but the high turnover and one year contracts just encourages 'jobs for the girls' designed simply to get a player to a club. The AFL should allow longer contracts so that a club can keep good players for a few years and stagger the end of contracts to reduce risk of losing a lot of talent all at once. The AFLW has the potential to be a fabulous competition. It won't be if AFL meddling, club politics and powerbrokers start exerting their might. Rant over...

@george_on_the_outer Thanks for adding the dates to the table in Must have taken eons to get the past year data. It really gives another insight into how we are tracking. Thanks for the efforts. And, congratulations Ethan T. A budding AFLW champion, I hope!

The AFL gave away the TV rights for zip for 2 years! Yes, zip! Channel 7 is getting record viewing audiences - at times well above AFL games and is making squillions from advertisers. The AFL and AFLW get not one brass razoo! Not even from the Grand Final!! If the AFL are dumb enough to do that, it is no reason why the players should wear the cost. I'm not suggesting equal pay or anything like it, just noting that the AFL have played this badly. There are also are direct financial benefits to the AFL eg 1. the Brisbane Lions has for years tried to get government funding for new facilities with zero results. Now with the AFLW team the Qld government is literally throwing money at the Lions and can't wait to build new facilities with a boutique stadium attached. http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/womens-afl/the-ladies-have-it-queensland-government-keen-to-invest-in-new-facilities-for-lions-because-of-aflw/news-story/64dad464744125c2d3073bc17fa9ac95. This saves the AFL having to foot the bill. And, it enable the AFL Brisbane Lions, with elite facilities, to be a more attractive club to male players and have a better chance of keeping their young talent. 2. And from a demons viewpoint. I just love seeing the NAB ads during games which feature Daisy and kids (a little boy in a supermarket and a little girl who kicks a goal) that are decked out in Melbourne gear. I reckon a lot more kids will be going to their school 'wear your footy jumper day' in the red and blue. Many will have #6 on the back and I doubt it will be for Lewis. The spinoffs from this exposure cannot be measured in dollars and cents but it makes me more proud to be a Demon supporter and to encourage people to take out a membership. Again not suggestion equal pay, just saying that the Brisbane and Demons exposure are examples of a direct financial benefit to AFL teams, so looking only at what AFLW 'pulls in' doesn't give the real picture.

Your mate is dreaming DA! If a team ever needed a pp it was Brisbane last year. They got one but it was end of first round. That was the first pp since the new (at AFL discretion) pp system came in (to stop tanking). So can't see the AFL giving pick 2 to the bottom team, in a hurry. And, Carlton recent history: 2016: 7 wins (14th) 2015: 4 wins (18th) 2014: 7 wins, 1 draw (13th) 2013: 11 wins (played finals and finished 8th... 9th if Ess hadn't been dumped) Bottom 4 only once in last 4 years (...didn't they tank their last game vs Brisbane in 2015 to make sure of 18th...) They can tank again (after all they are the masters at it) and they might finish last but their recent history won't get them a pp and certainly not pick 2. And as Mike Fitzpatrick is no longer Chairman they won't have as much clout.

Bit of a surprise that Hird suddenly turns up in the media. The AFL pulling some strings? I don't begrudge him a path back to good health but I really hope he doesn't use his column to preach about the drugs saga - a column of 'Fake Facts! Interestingly, EFC have scaled back the round 1 comeback campaign of 'welcome back our 'heroes'', walk to the G, etc. Maybe they recognise they aren't the comeback story of the Haw vs Ess. That honour belongs to Roughhead. And/or, the fanfare last week around the Wallis/Elliot/Gatto allegations have forced them to pull their heads in!

Contrast that article with the real comeback story of Jarryd Roughead: “I don’t think it will be emotional. It is a little bit about me (coming back), but I don’t really want it about that either..." http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/jarryd-roughead-doesnt-want-the-attention-to-be-on-him-ahead-of-his-afl-comeback/news-story/b385bddf1ef71429d793533db02da1b5 Roughhead is humble. Hird is still contrite. WE all know who the real hero is! It is sickening that Ess are still harping on 'comeback'!

Based on this article http://www.melbournefc.com.au/Team/players/senior there may be about 15 senior players front up for Casey on Sunday. Only one or two are locks for round 1 so they all have a lot to play for. Probably worth going to Casey to watch how hard they work for a spot vs StK.

The gall of GWS! They: have benefited from some loose definition of GWS Academy for a number of years succeeded in making the AFL defer the draft penalties re Whitfield until after the 2016 draft then managed to get the Whitfield penalty watered down to 'draft points' rather than 'draft picks' want to continue to claim players with only vague connection to parts of the Murray region as 'Academy' players, even tho they have never put a penny into their development. have a generous (not!) plan should they lose these rights: Sydney should be '... forced to potentially sacrifice local talent altogether should it finish in the top four or even the top eight...' But no proposed penalty for GWS should they finish in that range! The hypocrisy in that...words escape me! Defer the loss of rights till after the 2017 draft. Where they just happen to have two top draftees in their sights. Probably no talented kids coming from that area after 2017 so having the removal of rights deferred is no detriment to GWS at all. Their list will be set up for the next 10-15 years. How very generous of them! Probably setting up an ambit claim to AFL House: "Give us claim 2 and we will drop claim 1" (which could never have had any credibility in the first place). GWS can no longer be allowed to call the shots at AFL House like they have over the last 12 months! Otherwise the perpetual cycle of: Step 1. draft in top 10 talent, Step 2. keep the cream of the crop, Step 3. trade out the others for top 10/1st round draft picks. Step 4. Repeat from Step 1, will continue. Take this 'zone' from GWS this year! Good to see all the interstate clubs support the Vic clubs on this.

We can beat them at Etihad! Rewind June 14, 2015. While I dread recalling that game, we had it won with 41 seconds to go! Then a comedy of errors from Gawn, Viney, Cross and Toumpas allowed Montagna to kick a goal. Dumb, Dumb football! Our team has improved out of sight since then, theirs much less so. We can do this. We will do this

I know it is a bit early in the season to say it is an 8pt game. If, as most people think, the saints are the team we are fighting with to get a finals spot (somewhere in the 8) then both our games vs StK are 8pt games. So for mine, this is a 'must win' game on our road to finals, this year.

We may have both (and Hibberd): 'Melbourne said on Monday that Watts would be in the Casey Demons team to play Port Melbourne at Casey Fields on Sunday morning...Watts will be joined by Dom Tyson, who missed the start of the JLT Community Series because of a knee injury. Jeff Garlett (hamstring), Michael Hibberd (Achilles) and Dean Kent (back) are also in contention to play in the game after injury-interrupted pre-seasons'. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/melbourne-forward-jack-watts-to-play-for-casey-on-sunday-20170313-gux22a.html A big improvement on last week's team if they all play vs Saints!

This may well affect the game: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-etihad-stadium-plans-quickfix-for-turf-after-adele-concert-20170312-guwcsj.html Adele plays at Etihad just 6 days before our game there! That surface is a problem at the best of times without being trampled on, heavy stage equipment in the middle and patches of turf replaced a few days earlier. Adele also played at Subiaco 10 days before our last Thursday game. As far as we know we had no major injuries. But on Friday night Freo suffered injuries to Ballantyne and Sandilands on the freshly laid turf. I will be filthy if we come away from round 1 with Etihad turf related injuries. I can still recall watching Flash go down there, years ago. He was never the same player again. The surface may affect selections by us not taking a player at risk of aggravating a recent leg/foot injury eg Hibberd, Kent, Gartlett, Jetta, Frost Round 1 is a danger game in more ways than one!

You're right, our opinions probably aren't valid either. We are parochial and protective of our own! For mine, the rankings would have more cred if (say) the panel was made up of some premiership coaches of the last 20 years eg Roos, Kennedy, Sheedy etc. Robbie may still not have made the top 50 but I would have more respect for the list. At least most of the panel would have seen him and other top players of that era actually play. I could throw in a few more from that era: Bernie Quinlan. Peter Knights etc etc. I think Fox Footy, SEN and HS work together to generate stories that can be commented on by each other (Don't know if they have the same owners). Especially, when there is not much real footy happening. I've found that 'a grain of salt' comes in handy with anything they put out.

Don't worry about it 'picket', especially when one considers who the selectors were: Mick Malthouse, Dermott Brereton, David King, Mark Robinson, Jon Anderson, Jon Ralph, Glenn McFarlane, Scott Gullan and Sam Edmund. Hardly a footy brain among them! Only 3 of the 9 have ever played AFL and only one has coached. Nah, no footy credibility on that panel. They probably never saw Robbie play and being a quiet fellow he isn't front of mind. Let's face it research isn't exactly a HS forte. Its a click bait article.

A good read, thanks. Quote: Clayton Oliver has shed 5kg in order to take his game to the next level and has credited a drink-driving charge as the spur behind his big pre-season... Oliver escaped suspension over the drink-driving charge, but said the infraction had motivated him. “It was pretty embarrassing,” he said. To think that some posters on here wanted him disciplined or suspended, some even wanted him suspended for Rnd 1. Thank goodness the club didn't see it that way. He has learnt from the experience and is set to repay the faith, in spades!

I said my rating was not based on the Wins/Loss. The good things you mention, the bold text, (and other good things I thought of) are implied in the 6 out of 10. Not enough good things to rate the JLT higher in my book. My comments were explaining why the rating wasn't higher, rather than explaining the 6 out of 10. I guess you rate it higher than 6 out of 10, which is fine. Different views, not better not worse, just different.

I rate our JLT season 6 out of 10. This isn't necessarily based on Wins/Losses but more on who and how we played. We beat the reigning premiers who, like us were rusty. We played well but gave them some easy chances to get back in the game with 'junk time' goals. Last night they annihilated NM after an ordinary first half. WBD have improved out of sight since JLT 1, MFC less so, if at all. We beat Carlton in their first, rusty runout but didn't put them to the sword by letting them get some easy goals. (The Saints smashed them by keeping the pressure up the following week and Freo beat them convincingly last night). So not much to crow about from JLT 2. In JLT 3 we stayed in the game despite adverse weather conditions and our terrible turnovers. Our fwds and mids couldn't lock the ball in our fwd line so totally exposed our zone defence. Even the wise and mighty Jordan Lewis couldn't get the team to stem the tide. A discouraging hint to the players mindset going into JLT 3 was in hunt's post game interview where he said something like ... the loss was disappointing as the guys were on a high after the two wins. I'm not sure we have learnt the lesson of 'not drinking own bathwater'. Did they take it easy vs WCE? So some good signs and some bad signs. For mine there is still work to be done on our game plan, finding a Plan B when zone defence isn't working, and fwd/mid defensive pressure. While I welcome back Garlett for his speed and crumbing abilities we desperately need Kent for his 'pressure acts'.

All gone very quiet... Bombers gone to ground, after EFC Chairman 'clarifies' his statement that they did not have dealings with Gatto Heppell withdrawn from Jonathon Brown's radio program (JB called EFC 'weak"). Nothing in the media yesterday except a rehash of the Gatto/The Footy Show story. Not even in the HS!! Don't expect to see many media appearances by EFC folk in the near future. Maybe what Elliot and Wallis had would expose the skeletons in the closet. I wouldn't be surprised if the media has been muzzled and told to back off! Too much at stake for too many people!! And no prizes for guessing by who!

Of course, there will always be goals from turnovers, for both sides. I would prefer the opp got a lot more of their goals from their own endeavour: winning the 50/50 ball, contested marks or stoppages, rather than our sloppiness.

Bump. I thought we had tightened the weaknesses in our zone defence. It is highly vulnerable when there are a lot of turnovers and our players can't get back. Last year Ess were the first to exploit it: We got sucked into the contest, they held a player back, got the ball out, took it to the other side of the ground and easily ran it home to unguarded players. Other noticeable examples were StKilda x 2, Port in NT, Sydney and to a lesser extent the first half vs North. Last night Eagles did the same. After the Port game, Roos moved away from the zone somewhat and went back to 'defence first' principles. We didn't use the zone much after that. I just hope we know when to abandon the zone defence for a whole game (eg vs Hawthorn last year) or during a game when it is not working or when it doesn't suit the arena or weather conditions (eg vs Sydney 2016, MCG). Will be interesting to see how the year pans out.

Yep, apparently 12 of their 14 goals were from our turnovers. Climate and conditions aside as both teams played them, the culprits: skill errors and poor decisions. Lots of work to do on the former, tough to fix the latter.

We have not recruited for skill! So surprise, surprise we have skill issues! For four years the recruiting policy has been 'competitive' players. One I totally support and was an absolutely essential policy for a team that played 'bruise free'. So, we don't have enough silky skills of some other teams (exceptions, Salem, Watts and Lewis). There is a big gap to the next level of skill. We have what we recruited; a team of competitive players. Hawthorn on the other hand have for over a decade, recruited on the basis of excellent kicking skills and made them 'unsociable' footballers. Our coaches try and overcome our lack of skill with game plan, structures and positioning but these work when the game is being played on your terms. Last night we saw our lack of skills exposed when the game is played on the opposition's terms. Tbh, I can live with the poor disposal especially under pressure. But something seriously lacking is decision making skills and football nouse which can't be easily taught. (Noteworthy exceptions, again are Salem, Watts, Lewis). Turnovers are more often the result of poor decisions rather than poor disposal skills. Not sure what the answer is but sadly, our skills problem will continue.

An interesting time line is evolving: Nov 14, 2014 Elliot claims that is when he was asked to arrange a meeting with Gatto. "In November 2014 I was asked ... to set up a meeting off-site with Mick Gatto, who was an external well-known dispute resolution specialist,'' Elliott alleged. "The purpose of the meeting was in regard to obtaining information from Shane Charter,.." Nov 20, 2014 Gatto says he had tried to sell Carter's story to the media. Carter wanted $400,000. No takers. EFC also declined the offer. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/mick-gatto-says-he-was-enlisted-to-spruik-shane-charters-untold-story-to-media/news-story/90e3281926eac55da82b57d26f6adefd Gatto doesn't say when he did the spruiking but it is highly likely that his spruiking is what led to EFC asking Elliot to arrange a Gatto meeting. The article you quote shows that Salvo arranged such a meeting between EFC reps (including Xavier Campbell) and Carter which appears to have occurred late Nov to early Dec 2014. Early December, 2014 Carter refuses to appear at the AFL Tribunal. Another EFC cover up brewing? Update: The HS is reporting Gatto said he was approached by a senior Essendon official but it would be 'unprofessional' to say who (LOL). So much for Tanner's comment that they did not have 'dealings' with Gatto. Elliot's statement is looking more credible.